


A Steamy Reprieve

by alexxir



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Canon Divergence - Azure Moon Route, Claude has a Thing for words, Hand Jobs, M/M, Oral Sex, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Praise Kink, Recreational Drug Use, This is for my fellow needy Dimitri brethren
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:07:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23196790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexxir/pseuds/alexxir
Summary: As the war progresses, Claude finds himself with little time to enjoy life's simpler pleasures.Blessed with a fortunate schedule and an illicit tincture of herbs, he coaxes Dimitri into unwinding for the day.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 14
Kudos: 183





	A Steamy Reprieve

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! As mentioned in the tags, CW for drug use ahead. There's a slight mention of a concern around consent, but both parties come to a clear consensus on their desires. Practice safe fic reading practices, y'all!

Claude could get used to this.

Turning to his side, he watched as Dimitri reclined back, eyes heavy and lidded, letting the wash of hot steam seep the tension from his shoulders.

There was no sign of his initial reluctance to be found. Claude couldn't blame him for being fearful, not really - Dimitri wouldn't set foot in the sauna on a good day, let alone one Claude had hijacked.

The leader of the Alliance had "formally requested" for the sauna and its facilities to be closed off for the day. Perks of being a general in a war, when perks were few and far between, he had thought quite bitterly. With the sauna closed to the army, he could then specifically arrange for the steam coals to be infused with a secret tincture of herbs known for their… "relaxing" properties, to say the least. The very sort of stuff that would've got himself expelled had he been caught with it years ago.

"How are you feeling, Your Highness?"

Dimitri snorted non-committedly. Ok, so, not _quite_ relaxed yet. Claude could work on that.

He stretched his arms behind his back, enjoying how loose his limbs felt. "Well, _I'm_ feeling splendid. Thanks for asking."

Leaning back on the wooden steps, Claude found his gaze wandering lazily over Dimitri's form. Without his dark armour and all-encompassing fur cloak, it was easy to forget just how _built_ the exiled prince was. His tight bathing shirt and shorts left very, _very_ little to the imagination.

His eyes accidentally caught Dimitri's curious stare, and he coughed a little, collecting himself.

"Are you glad I convinced you to tag along, at the very least?"

To Claude's surprise, he nodded. "It is… nice."

"Yeah?"

"Indeed." Dimitri closed his eyes. "I feel…. lighter, somehow."

Claude grinned. "That's how you know it's working, Mitya.

A hint of a smile flickered across Dimitri's face. "I suppose so."

They both resumed relaxing in silence.

The steam grew thicker. Its scent, bitter and potent, the sharpness of it enough to rouse the nose but not enough to irritate it, only got stronger as the temperature climbed. It was difficult to resist its lure, and Claude let slip a small, contented sigh.

Dimitri wasn't nearly as reserved. A growl caught Claude's attention, and his eyes were quickly on Dimitri again. The prince had all but sprawled himself over the bottom step, on his back, one arm flopped and dangling over the edge. The sight was almost as cute as it was comical.

"Has the heat finally melted the lion prince?"

"'Nnh."

Claude's grin widened. "Glad to hear it."

He scooted in closer to the other man. Dimitri looked like putty on a plate. Instinctively, Claude leaned forward to tuck the prince's sweat-drenched bangs behind his ear, giving his good eye room to see.

What he didn't expect, though, was a soft sigh at the contact. His hand lingered by his face, frozen, caught in indecision. It was hard to _not_ think too much into that, even with the heady steam wafting through his senses and mellowing out his typical lightning-fast train of thoughts.

He placed a palm against Dimitri's forehead. The man smiled at him, loopy.

"What're'you doing that for?"

He strummed his fingers. "Checking your temperature." A lie. Mostly to himself.

"I feel good. So good." Trust Dimitri to reassure him like this.

"Don't feel nauseous? No erratic heartbeat, no weird tingling sensations?"

Dimitri bit the inside of his cheek, stewing over his next words. "No. Feel fine. Just…." His dangling arm gave a little dramatic wave for emphasis. "Empty."

 _Empty, huh._ Claude supposed that over time, his tolerance for mind altering substances and concoctions had strengthened; nowadays, his highs were far less grandiose. But despite Dimitri's size, and his constitution, he doubted the coddled prince had ever dabbled in anything stronger than a simple mug of ale. One could only assume that the herbs were having a _far_ greater impact on him as a result.

Claude's thumb wiped up some sweat on Dimitri's forehead. A redundant action, to say the least. "That's how it's _supposed_ to feel, Mitya. Gets you out of your head for a bit. Lets you relax." _Frees you of your demons,_ _too_ , although Claude wouldn't dream of voicing that last part out loud.

Dimitri said nothing. He swallowed, adam's apple bobbing, completely at the mercy of the other's touch. Claude rubbed gentle, soothing strokes with the pad of his thumb down his temple, across his cheek. It flitted on the border between too much and not enough. He could play it off if he needed to. He would be ready to.

His eyes locked with Dimitri's own again. Though lidded, his pupils were trained on him with curiosity. He licked his lips — Claude couldn't tear his gaze away.

To Claude's surprise, Dimitri rose to a seated position. The prince stretched - languidly, as if he had all the time in the world - and it was hard for Claude to keep his eyes off his frame. He yawned, jaw widening like a lion's maw, and he scooted in closer, shifting, and his head -

Dimitri's head was on his lap.

If he sensed Claude tense up, he paid him no mind. His smile, precious and unreserved, shining as best as a mind-drunken loon could muster, felt like it had been held against a bowstring and then sent whirring straight through Claude's erratically beating heart.

"H-hey there," the deer said, mustering a grin. "Comfortable?"

Dimitri's nose nuzzled into his thighs. "Quite so." His voice was muffled against skin. It sent shivers up Claude's spine.

_Stay cool. He's just… relaxed. Don't break his trust._

A traitorous hand reached for Dimitri's hair. His fingers carded through his locks. The blonde whined.

“That feels nice.”

What was once a careful construction of barely-contained contempt, of indifference to the comforts the world could offer when the dead could see no such indulgence, was nowhere to be found. Furrowed brows were made smooth, eyes closed through relief, not by pain. To be truthful, Dimitri was less and less haunted these days, but his ghosts had never truly left him, and his allies - his friends - could always feel their presence.

But here, in the sauna, Claude could study Dimitri’s face for days and still be pleasantly taken aback by this drastic change in his complexion. He _was_ studying him, now. Bashfulness be damned.

“Y’know, you’d told me this a few times now, Mitya. I think I’m finally starting to believe it.”

Claude could feel Dimitri’s smile widen against his thighs. “Shall I say it again?”

“If you must.”

“Then I will.” Dimitri turned up to face him. “This is wonderful. You are wonderful.” He reached up for Claude’s hand in his hair, curling his fingers around them. “I cannot thank you enough for convincing me to be here.”

Claude was suddenly very, very thankful for the heat in the room.

The blonde stretched upwards, away from his lap. Just as Claude was yet again praising the stars for the mercy they showed, keeping Dimitri far away from his crotch, he cozied up to Claude’s side, and buried his face against the soft crevice between neck and shoulder.

He tried not to gulp. “You’re - you’re welcome. Any time.”

Dimitri’s face was so warm. _Everything_ was warm. When the prince raised his hand to cradle Claude’s jaw, his touch was a blazing fire that spread all the way down to the pit of his stomach.

"It was kind of you to offer me this solace." Dimitri pulled back slightly, enough so he could stare up into Claude's eyes. "And I can't help but feel I owe you, somewhat."

"Pssht." His protests were weak. If he was in a less drug induced mind, he may have been concerned over that. Instead, the growing pool of desire couldn't give a damn.

He had to at least make the effort of saving face, though. "It is not enough to just see the benefits of a dear friend enjoying themselves?"

"Perhaps." Claude shivered as Dimitri slowly ran his fingers down his neck. "Or you could let me show gratitude."

_Ah._  
  


Claude grasped at the last straws of sense still with him. He reached for Dimitri's jaw, cradling him, keeping him out of reach.

"Dimitri." His tone did a fine job of rousing concern in the other's eyes. "Well I can't truthfully say I don't… I don't want your affection…" He turned, brow furrowing. "I can't take advantage of you like this."

Dimitri whined. Stars above, he _whined._

"Please."

He couldn't look back at him.

"Claude, I." He gripped harder at the back of his neck. "I want this. I feel finally allowed to want this."

He looked back at him.

Dimitri swallowed.

"Can I kiss you?"

And like that, the final barrier was kicked down, and a path had opened up, a path that led to the press of lips and the whine of two men starved for contact.

Claude's hand abandoned Dimitri's jaw. Instead, he reached forward to dig them into the woefully drenched shirt, tugging, pulling Dimitri in closer. His lips tasted divine, all heady with sweat, faintly of the dining hall's onion gratin and garnished with a herbal tang. He pressed in insistently with his tongue, and Dimitri obliged him with a moan. They locked together, slippery, heated and wanting.

Dimitri extracted himself, catching his breath. His hand snaked up to Claude's hair, winding the pads of his fingertips through his scalp. Claude's eyes fluttered shut.

"As I thought." The ghost of a grin escaped the prince. "You taste wonderful, too."

The dear gasped lightly, tapped his knuckles against Dimitri's chest. "You trying to kill me with that line?"

Dimitri, earnest to a fault, tugged at Claude's hair, as if to shake the doubt from him. "Not at all."

He leaned down to plant a chaste kiss on Claude's collarbone, needless of his shivering. "You deserve to know how wonderful you are."

Claude's grip tightened, keeping him tethered, keeping him present. "Well, consider me charmed."

Undeterred, Dimitri's lips trailed further down, planting a lovely path of kisses. Claude's hands, feeling the itch to maintain some sort of control on the situation, rose, and then, hesitantly, placed themselves on the crown on Dimitri's head. And stars above, the prince wholly moaned into him.

"Feels… lovely…" 

Dimitri could barely pull away long enough to speak the words - but he just _had_ to speak them. A dam had burst, and his mind, blissfully unable to hold back, spilled forth affection through kisses, through an endless stream of praises, through the unabashed gasps as Claude pulled on his hair just like that.

He glanced back up at the deer. Claude's mouth was parted open, eyes lidded, but attentive, and as they caught each other's gaze, Claude's lips quirked.

"Nervous?"

"Hardly."

The banter was a comfort - they both knew this. As much as Claude prided himself on a poker face, Dimitri understood by now that his easy smiles and taunts were a shield to hide his anxieties. After all, he'd witnessed them most during his student exams, before battle, before - _this._

Dimitri shuffled, opting to slip away from the stands to kneel on the stone floor. When Claude's hands returned to his head, he took a deep breath in, calming his racing heart, and leaned forward.

Down into the tented, damp crotch of Claude's pants.

"Hah, _ohmystars_ Mitya, you don't ne--!"

Oh, now leaving Claude speechless was certainly satisfying.

Dimitri used his mouth on him, leaving open, needy kisses, palming through the clothes, enjoying the heady feeling and weight to him. Claude's grip tightened on his locks, white-knuckled and shaking ever so slightly, spurring him on, and Dimitri, as always, was happy to oblige.

With a slight growl, the prince caught the band of his shorts between his teeth, and unceremoniously yanked them down. Not as effective as he imagined, seeing as they immediately got snagged on Claude's erection. The deer chuckled, a little breathless at the sight. He lifted a hand down to help shrug off the garment, down to his knees, leaving the prince eye to eye with his arousal.

Dimitri paused. His eyes were wide open. A small tang of nerves hit Claude's stomach, watching the other hesitate.

"We - we can stop…"

"Gods." Dimitri's voice was low, husky, cutting him off. "You're beautiful."

The praise went straight to Claude's cock. It throbed, slapping against Dimitri's cheek. He was overwhelmed, amazingly overwhelmed; Dimitri was breathing low and heavy, the warm air around him charged, electric, heavy with tension, waiting for the lion to pounce.

The slickness of Dimitri's tongue trailed up his shaft, both cool and hot, and very wet. It was all Claude could do but grip more firmly as his lover reached the tip, swirling around a bead of precum there like a delicacy. How he could remain so collected, Claude couldn't figure out - was it partly a side effect of being high, was it like a state of mind Dimitri could just 'turn on', was it-

"Ah, f-fuck, hah!"

His train of thoughts were dumpstered. Dimitri had taken him in his mouth.

Steadily, the prince worked his lips downwards, sinking into him, testing how much he could take in. A bit in over halfway, he paused. Glanced up to lock eyes with Claude. Satisfied at Claude's expression, he hummed. Traced his way back up, down, up again, working on a rhythm, using his tongue as a muse to paint the way. The grip on Dimitri's hair had become painfully tight and he loved it. It kept him focused. Kept him assured.

Claude arched back, head resting on the steps above him, awash with sweat and lust and overcome with so many emotions he was _not_ in the right headspace to identify.

The herbs told him to let go. Dimitri's mouth told him to stay, stay here, look at me, so he did, leaning his head forward again to observe the performance.

A growl, and then, one of Dimitri's hands reached for the base of Claude's cock, stroking it in tandem with his movements. Claude moaned, a small, desperate thing. Dimitri couldn't help himself, with Claude pliant and thrusting up in little motions to chase his pleasure as he's fucked like this - he reached down to free his own erection from his pants. Stroked himself _and_ Claude, and suddenly it was a lot to keep balanced all at once.

Claude noticed, because of course he did. He took a sharp intake of breath, but not a beat later found himself chuckling at the sight. Dimitri's strokes had gotten sloppy, and his mouth had stopped moving, content with licking fond little trails up his shaft.

"Mitya, hah, here - let me help."

"Nmmph."

"Trust me."

He relented, pulling himself off with a _pop_ . Claude swallowed down his pitiful, needy whine at the loss, collecting himself. He cusped gentle hands around the sides of Dimitri's jaw, taking a moment to appreciate his flustered, blissed out face, and ran a thumb across his cheek.

"You'll tell me if this is too much?"

He nodded.

Claude nudged him forward, and Dimitri took the hint, slipping Claude's cock between his lips again. This time, though, it was Claude that held the initiative, the control. Using Dimitri's cheeks as leverage, he thrusted up into his mouth. The prince all but rolled his eyes back, humming contentedly.

A large hand once again trailed down to Dimitri's own arousal, and as he began to stroke himself, Claude could feel it - he felt it in the way Dimitri's jaw widened, in the way his breathing became laboured through his nose, in the way Dimitri reached his other hand out to sink his fingers into the flesh of Claude's thigh. He was ravenous for this, willing to let Claude speed up with a shaky gasp, letting him fuck his mouth as he pleased.

It was unexpected, then, as Dimitri grew taunt, freezing up. Claude's eyes widened as he watched Dimitri's body snap, and took in his silent cries around his cock as he spilled all over himself. It was mesmerising.

He was breathless. Dimitri was too caught in his high to hear him, shaking like a leaf. Claude soothed him with a stray thumb across his cheeks, wiped away an errant stray tear. Dimitri leaned into the touch, returning to the present, content to take in deep, steadying breaths.

Claude pulled himself out then, straightening up a little bit. He patted the space on the steps beside him, beckoning. Dimitri didn't get it at first. Once his brain had caught up to his eyes, he grinned, a rare, selfless thing, and shuffled up to sit beside him.

His voice was husky when he spoke. "I quite enjoyed that."

Claude laughed at him. "Wouldn't have believed you if you have said otherwise."

Dimitri huffed, and nestled in closer to the deer. A wandering hand snuck its way up Claude's thigh, up the side of his hips, ghosting around the bottom of his stomach. Claude's breath hitched in his throat.

"I quite enjoyed _you."_

If Claude wasn't already beet-red from the steam, surely that would've done it for him.

"Uh… huh. I should feel flattered."

"You should." Dimitri's hand reached to grasp Claude's cock, then, and Claude sharply inhaled. "I… I confess I do not have much experience in these things, but the thought of being at your knees, giving to you all that I could…" Dimitri's hand started to stroke him, slow but firm. "It used to embarrass me a little, just picturing it, but I'm glad I finally got to try."

Dimitri's words came out more as a ramble than a coherent analysis. Post orgasm and drug highs weren't the best for eloquent speech. Regardless, their impact was not lost on Claude.

"You've worked so hard. For me, for all of us." Dimitri sped up. "You're fantastic at what you do, Claude. Seeing you like this is also quite the sight."

The deer's breaths were coming in as short gasps. His eyes were wide open, but were staring past Dimitri, not truly seeing him.

A sharp, painful sensation snapped him back to the present. The prince had bit down on his shoulder, hard. Dimitri's other hand gripped the side of his hips hard enough to bruise. It was possessive. It was hot.

Dimitri mumbled more praises into the quickly-forming bruise on his skin. "Do you want to be taken care of, Claude?"

The whine in his throat spoke for itself.

Dimitri's tongue trailed up his neck. "Will you let me take care of you?"

Claude was furiously nodding. "Yeah, of course, yeah, please - ah."

"Good."

Dimitri's breaths were heavy against him.

"So good."

The words were hypnotic. They reverberated in his skull, played on repeat.

Dimitri's grip around his cock shifted. He thumbed the inner side of his shaft as he pumped. Claude began to mumble affirmatives, sweet nothings, as his hips started to thrust into Dimitri's hand involuntarily.

The prince lapped his earlobe gently. Blew air across his skin, a delicious, sensitive reprieve from the heat around him.

"Are you close?"

"Y- yeah."

Dimitri's next words were whispered in his ear. "Will you come for me, Claude?"

The spell was broken. Claude's cries were silent, as his hips jerked - once, twice, and then, in the throes of esctasy, suddenly he was spilling over Dimitri's fingers. 

\---

Flushed crimson, hair slicked with sweat, a hand and a hip tacky in places, both men drew deep, heavy breaths, leaning on each other's shoulders for support.

Claude was the first to speak. "Damn."

"Indeed."

A blink, then a laugh. "Could do with a bath."

Dimitri murmured in agreement. Neither of them moved.

Claude scratched his upper arm, lost in thought. "I don't even remember the last time I…" He drifted off, closed his eyes. "Hasn't really been on the top of my mind."

"Neither mine. I suppose no one can blame us, though."

"I'd like to see them try." Claude's lips curled into a smirk. "Though I would be _most agreeable_ to a repeat performance in the foreseeable future, Your Highness."

Dimitri's low chuckle was so earnest that Claude felt a pang deep within his chest.

"I could facilitate such a request."

"How generous of you."

Dimitri angled his face to plant a chaste kiss on the crown of Claude's head. "Truly though, Claude, thank you." A deep, shaking breath. "I think I needed this."

Claude snuggled in closer. "You know what, Mitya? I think I did too."  
  



End file.
